SAVE THE DRAGONS! for goodness sake
by Sheen Shan
Summary: To inherit his dad's will Draco buys a failing dragon reserve and has to make it flourish.There ginny is a dragon keeper who tries to protect a secret in the form of a vest wearing newspaper reading dragon called puff from the death eaters. GinnyDraco
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING. EXCEPT ANDRE AND MY PLOT IDEAS.**

**POST DEATHLY HALLOWS**

**Summary: To inherit his father's estate Draco has to buy over a failing dragon reserve owned by Charlie weasley and has to make it flourish. There Ginny is a dragon keeper who's trying to protect a vest clad newspaper reading dragon called puff.**

**CHAPTER 1 (SAVE THE DRAGONS!! OH FOR GOODNESS SAKE!!)**

Ginny Weasley stood in the middle of a very crowded Diagon Alley on a very busy Saturday afternoon. She wore a set of muggle attire, which consisted of a cream coloured jumper, and a pair of black jeans and a black beanie (or a ski cap if you prefer). The weather was just past freezing and was reflected in the 2 pink spots on her cream colored cheeks. She sighed as witches and wizards pushed past her not giving a care in the world. She groaned mentally, why had she agreed to do this job? She was far too qualified for such a job.

She paused mid thought to bellow "SAVE THE DRAGONS!! SAVE THE DRAGONS!!"

People looked at her oddly as they passed. Some of them clicking their tongues and shaking their heads in disgust. Ginny sighed and flopped onto the small stool that she had conjured. She glared at the neon green flyers in her hand. They had a large caption that said SAVE THE DRAGONS and a picture of a Chinese fireball. The dragon was flapping its wings and blowing out fire at regular intervals.

She suddenly felt very angry and frustrated. She was cold, tired, and hungry and she had been there for hours. She decided that it was all Charlie's fault that she was in this position, if it wasn't for his love of dragons she wouldn't be sitting on a tiny, hard and uncomfortable stool in the middle of Diagon Alley hollering herself hoarse. So since she felt the mood to point a finger at someone to compensate for her misery, she would point a big fat finger at Charlie. Figuratively speaking of course because her fingers weren't big and fat. But she was quite sure if she did have big fat fingers, she would point one of them at Charlie. When Ginny was in her sixth year at Hogwarts, Charlie had gotten it into his head that it was up to him and him alone to try to save the rapidly diminishing dragon population of the world. He had used whatever money he had saved during his years as a dragon keeper to buy over a dragon reserve. He wanted to try out new methods of breeding dragons to try and increase their numbers. However, he needed all the help he could get and as soon as Ginny had finished her education at Hogwarts Charlie had roped her into helping him. Ginny personally felt that she way too qualified to be handing out flyers in the middle of Diagon Alley. She had, after all, finished her Hogwarts education with top honors. She was head girl as well as the vice-captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team. She had received various job offers from different prestigious places but instead she turned them all down. She had an offer to play chaser for Puddlemere United, an offer to join the elite ranks of the magical law enforcement department and she even had an invitation to join the Aurors but she turned them all down for Charlie. "Bloody Charlie" she muttered darkly to herself. She could still remember the summer after she finished at Hogwarts. She was sitting on her bed in her room and reading some trashy romance novel that she didn't have time to read during her seventh year, when Charlie knocked on her door and asked if he could talk to her. She couldn't remember their exact conversation but all she recalled was him talking to her about the importance of family and siblings helping each other out in the time of need. She was always such a sucker for her family and Charlie had played the game using the right cards. So she agreed and started work at the end of the summer for Charlie. And that was how she came to be sitting on a hard, uncomfortable, tiny stool in the middle of bloody Diagon Alley.

This was her tenth week handing out flyers. She handed out flyers for 3 days of the week and the rest of her working time was spent at the reserve itself. Tending to the dragons, feeding them and helping the dragon keepers with their work. She didn't mind working in the reserve because she didn't mind the dragons. They were rather fascinating creatures and they were intelligent too. It was the handing out of flyers that she really despised. She would rather be shoveling dragon manure onto carts than to be giving out flyers. Whenever she did 'flyer duty' as she had dubbed it, she was yelled at, frowned upon, bruised (from all the people pushing past her), given the finger or knocked to the ground and nearly trampled on. Although being knocked to the ground and nearly being trampled on, was just one time and in that man's defense he had a lot on his mind and wasn't really looking where he was going and neither was anyone else in Diagon Alley. Of course she was hard to miss considering that she had on a bright orange Chudley Cannons t-shirt.

After having a couple of minutes rest on her god-forsaken stool, Ginny stood up again ready to resume her duty.

She cupped her hands around her mouth and bellowed as loudly as she could "SAVE THE DRAGONS!! COME ON PEOPLE FOR GOODNESS SAKE!! SAVE THE GOD DAMMED DRA "- WHACK!

She was cut off and didn't get to finish her sentence because unfortunately for her she didn't realize that she had bellowed into an elderly witch's ear giving the old bat a terrible fright. As revenge, the old bat swung her incredibly heavy and hard handbag and whacked Ginny across the face. Ginny let out a great "OW" and fell backwards toppling over her stupid stool. Her head swam with thousands of tiny golden snitches and splotches of neon green. She closed her eyes and let out a groan of pain. She felt like she was hint on the head by a large sack full of galleons or by a ton of bricks. Maybe that's what the old bat had in her bag, thought Ginny to herself. Although that was ridiculous, who in their right mind would haul around a ton of bricks in their handbag? She wouldn't would she? Ginny asked herself wondering about the old bat. She opened her eyes and was glad to find that the snitches had gone disappeared from her mind but the splotches of neon green were still there. Oh god, she thought. She was going insane. She was seeing things. She began to panic and flapped her arms wildly.

After a few seconds she realized that they were the flyers that she was meant to be giving out. They had scattered all over the place and the gusts of wind carried the neon green leaflets with them. She felt suddenly happier realizing that she wouldn't have to give out any more flyers but upon spying a bag next to her stool she let out a cry of frustration and her happiness was short lived. One thousand leaflets were concealed in that bag and she still had to give them out. She put her hand to her throbbing cranium and turned around slowly. The old bat was glaring at her from a distance and when Ginny's pathetic expression met the old bat's fierce one, the old bat (to Ginny's immense shock) gave Ginny the finger. Ginny's mouth dropped open as the old bat haughtily raised her nose and stalked off swinging her handbag turned weapon.

A couple of hours, a few painkillers and a bottle of water later, Ginny had finished her shift. She apprated back to the dragon reserve and made a beeline for Charlie's office. After that day's events she was going to point her finger at Charlie and tell him that she was not going to do his dirty work any more. She was going to give him a piece of her mind, and let out the pent up anger that inflated within her like a balloon. She was hopefully going to do a lot of ranting and raving and a lot of yelling. It would be an added bonus if she could throw a few things and smash them. Perhaps she could smash that hideous paperweight that Charlie had on his desk, it was given to him by their Aunt Muriel and it was an enchanted multi coloured clay pig that gave out realistic snorts every ten seconds. With such thoughts clouding her mind she entered Charlie's office and ended up waiting patiently as Charlie was conversing with her older brother Bill via the fireplace.

Bill, like Ginny was also roped in by Charlie to help out and he worked on managing the finances of the reserve. Bill greeted her with a cheery "hey Gin" and resumed conversing with Charlie in hushed tones. While waiting for her beloved brothers to finish their conversations, Ginny surveyed Charlie's office. It was fairly small and adorned with framed moving photos of her family. There was a picture of all the Weasley children together smiling and laughing and Bill had Ron in a headlock and was ruffling his hair. There was another photo of Charlie, Bill and Ginny together and it was taken on her fifth birthday. Charlie and Bill were looking at her adoringly as she opened a present that the two of them had combined together and bought her. It was a stuffed dragon, which she named Puff and he was red with black and blue spikes and sprouted out harmless fire and gave out realistic roars. Puff became her best friend and she wouldn't go to sleep at night without him. As a matter of fact she still had puff and she still went to sleep every night with puff cradled in her arms. Her eyes surveyed the room and came to rest on Aunt Muriel's hideous multi coloured pig.

She wrinkled her nose; 'yep' she thought 'that thing has to be smashed'. She was just thinking of other ways to get rid of Aunt Muriel's hideous multi coloured pig when Charlie got up from his current position at the fireplace and went to his chair. Ginny took one look at his crestfallen face and the balloon of anger within her deflated and she suddenly didn't have the heart to point any of her fingers at Charlie (not even her pinky finger) or give him a piece of her mind anymore.

"Gin" he said solemnly "have a seat, we need to talk".

Ginny sat down nervously, wringing her hands together. The last time Charlie spoke those words to her was when she was in her fifth year and all her brothers got together after finding out about her boyfriend at that time Dean Thomas. She would never forget, she had arrived home for the Christmas holidays when she came face to face with all six of her brothers sitting down on the couch, bunched together. Obviously Ron, the big mouth had told them whom Ginny was going out with and they had all brought it upon themselves to educate her in the ways of men. She shuddered upon remembering Percy trying to explain the birds and the bees to her while the rest threatened to chase off every guy that went near a foot of her, with a stick. A very large broomstick if you please. So you would understand now why Ginny was absolutely nervous about what Charlie had to say.

"Gin" he said wearily "the reserve is in big trouble". Ginny let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Wait a minute, the reserve? "It seems that we don't have enough finances or sponsors to tie us through the end of the year," Charlie said tiredly "unless we find someone to buy over half the shares of this reserve or sponsor us, we're going to have to close down".

"But I thought we only needed sponsors to donate some money and that's why I was handing out those flyers, I didn't know things were that bad" she said feeling her heart contract; she didn't want the reserve to close down. Poor Charlie won't know what to do with himself and where would all those poor dragons go?

"Well Gin apparently things are a lot worse than we thought" her brother said and his shoulders slumped. She had to help Charlie save the reserve, if only she knew someone to sponsor the reserve or buy half the shares. But who would want to buy a failing dragon reserve?

Draco Malfoy was in a positively foul mood that afternoon. He had just had a meeting with his lawyer over the reading of his father's will and the news was not good at all. To top it all off Draco was late to meet his best friend who happened to be his cousin, Andre Montague. Andre would be cranky about Draco being late and then Draco would get cranky with Andre for being cranky and everything would explode as one big cranky bombshell. Draco hurried along the street and pulled his hood over his head. He needed to get to the leaky cauldron fast, if he wanted to live to see tomorrow. Andre was a stickler for punctuality and was an absolute nightmare if anyone was late for a meeting with him. He increased his pace, his mind on his previous meeting. He wasn't really looking at where he was going when all of a sudden he bumped into someone. It was an old lady. She landed on her bottom and he hastily tried to help her up. After helping her stand the old lady brushed off what little dirt was on her robes and Draco stared stonily at her for a minute and willed himself to say something. But nothing came, instead he just stared at the old lady he was about to open his mouth when the old lady swung her handbag and hit him across the face WHACK!

"Oof" he grunted as he ended up sprawled on the concrete pavement on his backside, with the wind knocked out of him. He made some indecipherable noises and let out a loud "What the fu"- WHACK! The old lady's handbag came out of nowhere and hit him on the other side of his face. "What was that for?" he asked her, his voice coming out raspy and breathless.

"Well the first one was for not apologizing and the second one was for swearing" the old cow answered with a haughty eerie smile.

"But I helped you up you old bi"-WHACK! Draco received another blow.

"What did I tell you about swearing?" the old cow asked shrilly. Draco groaned and gingerly touched a hand to his head.

"Oh the pain" he moaned. He saw the old bat walk a short distance away from him, then she turned around and flipped him the bird. Draco's mouth dropped open in disbelief at the old cow's actions. She then turned around and hobbled off in an elderly fashion down the street, gripping her weapon in her wrinkled hands.

Draco muttered darkly as he entered the pub. "Bloody old cow who does she think she is? I'll show her". His face was red and sore and his head hurt like a mother. He staggered over to Andre nursing his injured head and bruised ego. He was just beaten up by an old woman. The force of her handbag was unbelievably hard and it felt like she had a ton of bricks in her handbag. Hmm that was interesting Draco thought. He wondered if she really did have bricks in her handbag. But who in their right mind would carry bricks around in their handbag?

"You look like shit" Andre remarked as he observed his cousin. "Since you look like shit I'm not going to lecture about the importance of being punctual for all your appointments".

Draco sneered "wow that's merciful Andre". Almost immediately Tom the barman of the leaky cauldron strode up to their table.

"Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Montague what can I get you?" the old barman asked giving them a yellow-toothed grin.

"A bottle of fire whisky tom, if you don't mind and two glasses Andre said politely.

"Ice. Get me ice now. Lost of ice wrapped in a cloth or something" Draco bit out. Tom looked puzzled and gazed at Draco in utter confusion "for my head you idiot don't just stand there I said ICE!" Draco yelled.

As Tom scampered off and Andre stifled his laughter behind his hands. "By god Draco what actually happened to you?" he asked his sullen looking cousin. Draco narrowed his eyes threateningly at Andre who seemed indifferent. Draco knew he would have to tell his cousin. Draco told Andre exactly what happened with the old cow and her dangerous handbag. It was the bond that the two had shared since they were kids, that prevented Andre from bursting into peals of laughter. Tom then returned with their drinks and ice wrapped in a cloth. Draco immediately pressed the cool cloth to his head and felt the relief spreading already. Andre poured the two of them drinks and they both drank it in one go.

"So" Andre announced with some sort of finality "onto more pressing matters, what's happening with Lucius's will"? Draco's mouth formed a scowl at the mention of Lucius's name. It wasn't that he hated his father but after the meeting with his lawyer, he realized that his life would be a lot more difficult because of the old man.

"Well dear old daddy has decided to make my life difficult" Draco spat. "It seems that to get my share of the inheritance I have to prove that I am not the squandering useless bum that I apparently was". Andre raised a dark brown eyebrow, his greenish- gray eyes showing obvious misunderstanding. Draco ignored his cousin's questioning looks and went on "I have to buy a business or at least half a business and produce a profit of at least seven hundred thousand galleons and then after I complete that task then only will the lawyer be able to read the other conditions of the will. It's got some sort of magical wards on it that only when I have done that step will the wards disappear and then I will know if I can get the money".

Andre raised both his eyebrows and gave a low whistle "wow Draco sounds tough".

"I know that" Draco snapped.

"Where are you going to get the money to buy the business in the first place?" Andre asked.

"I'm given three hundred thousand galleons to buy the business but it has to be for the business, Lucius has arranged it in such a way that the money can only be touched if it's to be for the business" Draco growled darkly.

Andre looked thoughtful "perhaps Draco, you could buy a café?"

Draco shook his head at the suggestion "a café wouldn't be able to turn over such a large profit it just wouldn't work".

They both slipped into a comfortable thoughtful silence as they wondered about how Draco would get his hands on the will. What business could Draco buy that would be able to turn out a large profit? Andre glanced over at his cousin who was now pressing his icy cloth to his face and downing a shot of firewhisky. Andre felt a stab of sympathy for his cousin. It wasn't fair that Draco's life had turned out the way it did. He was a good person, well at least to Andre he was. When Andre was disowned by his family for not wanting to be a deatheater, Draco had supplied him with money to buy a flat and had helped him get a job. Andre wanted to return the favor to Draco, which was why he was helping his cousin with the conundrum of the will.

Draco looked at the clock in the bar. It seemed a little blurred, probably from all that firewhisky. He had downed three quarters of the bottle himself. They had been here for ages and it was now already dark. Draco stood up and motioned for Andre to get up as well. He had had enough, it had been a tiring day and all he wanted was a good night's sleep. Andre had gone to pay the bill and Draco opened the doors to the pub and shuddered, it was freezing and the wind was howling. These were the last few days of autumn and it wouldn't be long before the first flakes of snow fell. Draco had stepped out into the cold night air and waited for Andre. He yawned and stretched out and all of a sudden he saw a flash of green coming towards him and he spluttered as it covered his face. He ripped the paper from his delicate features and was about to throw it in the bin when it's heading caught his eye. SAVE THE DRAGONS! It read. Draco looked at it closely not wanting to blink in case it was a dream. Could this be the answer to all his problems?

He was so wrapped up with his own thoughts that he didn't hear Andre come out. "What you got there Dray?" he heard his cousin ask. Draco didn't say anything but he merely handed Andre the paper. He watched as he saw Andre's eyes scan the page then light up. "That's it!" he exclaimed, "We're going to see the owners first thing tomorrow". Draco nodded and they both apprated back to the Malfoy Manor. Andre was staying the night, so he went to the Malfor guestroom while Draco went to his own room. He was so tired that he only took off his shoes and went straight to bed.

The next morning Draco awoke to the sun glaring in through his window and an unpleasant hangover. His black velvet drapes were drawn open and he the combination of a hangover and glaring sunlight was beginning to give him a lethal headache. He heard someone humming and slowly looked around wincing as the light hit his pupils. He saw Andre bustling about his room and picking up the clothes that were strewn all over the floor then swishing his wand here and there and cleaning up the dust.

"Andre what the hell?" he croaked.

"Morning Draco!" Andre exclaimed in his normal voice and Draco grimaced.

"Use your inside voice Andre, you're killing me" Draco croaked.

"This is my inside voice Dray!" Andre remarked.

Draco scowled "Well I don't care" he said, "just keep your effing voice down! Can't you see I'm suffering from a hangover?"

At this Andre grinned wolfishly "oh I forgot, you did have a lot to drink last night didn't you?" Draco nodded feeling like absolute shit. "Well then we have no time to sit around making idle chit chat! We have a business to buy! So get off your arse and go and get ready we've already wasted valuable time!" Draco groaned loudly at the volume of Andre's voice.

"Need hangover potion now" he bit out.

Andre shook his shaggy dark brown head. "Nope not until you've had your shower and gotten dressed". Draco let out a large sound of protest and then crawled on his hands and knees to his elaborate bathroom.

Andre proceeded to clean up in Draco's room while Draco was in the shower. He was just a few years older to Draco and treated Draco like his own brother. They shared common interest and grew up together. Andre's mother and Draco's father were siblings, which was how they were related. Unfortunately Andre's parents had followed Draco's parents into service for the dark lord. Though that had never been the intention of their children. The only main difference between Andre and Draco was that Andre was sent to Drumstrang instead of Hogwarts. Andre's father was from Europe and Drumstrang was nearer to home (if you could call it that) than Hogwarts was. Although without fail every summer either Draco would go to Europe or Andre would go to Malfoy Manor.

During Draco's seventh year, the year when Harry Potter defeated Voldermort, Andre's parents had perished at the hands of the current minister for magic Kingsley Shacklebolt. He didn't feel any hatred towards Kingsley though, after all it was inevitable. Draco's parents survived the war but Lucius didn't survive the trial and Narcissa didn't survive the guilt. Lucius was tried for conspiring against the wizarding world and Narcissa became incredibly sick after the war and no one knew why. Some said that she couldn't come to terms with the fact that her husband was in Azkaban for life (and who would later commit suicide) and that she could not believe that she had put her son in such a position of danger. The ministry of magic could not convict a sick woman nor could they convict Draco who wasn't acting out of his free will, so Draco and his mother were left to the estate. All Narcissa did was lie in bed all day and read novels to pass the time and was of no help so Draco, with the help of Andre, had to take care of everything. Andre felt quite sorry for Draco. After the war Draco seemed to retreat further and further into his shell, emotionally that is. He drank all the time and his antics with various pureblood socialites were known to the whole wizarding world. Draco hardly spoke to anyone unless it was someone he knew very well, like his mother or Andre. But even then he seemed to be emotionally guarded. Andre conjured up a glass and took out a small vile from his pocket. The vile contained a burgundy colored liquid called the alcolise remedy, commonly known as the hangover potion. He emptied its contents into the glass and surveyed the room. He seemed satisfied with the job that he'd done and sat himself down on Draco's bed.

Draco came out of the shower a couple of minutes later and found the hangover potion waiting for him. He reached for it hastily and gulped it down. A few seconds later, his face brightened and the pain in his head seemed to disappear, the effects of the hangover potion. He felt as good as new. The two of them made their way downstairs to the dining hall where they found Draco's mother sitting down at the table for breakfast for the first time in months. Usually she was too weak to make her way downstairs so her meals would usually be brought up to her room.

Draco greeted his mother with a "good morning mother" and a kiss on the cheek. Andre greeted his Aunt in a similar fashion and they sat down to eat. "It's good to see you up mother, are you feeling better?" Draco asked surveying his mother over his mug of coffee.

"Yes Draco I'm feeling better and I thought I might ask one of the maids to wheel me out into the garden I'm in need of some fresh air".

Draco nodded his head stiffly and then there was a silence. When the boys had finished their breakfast Draco kissed his mother and said "I'm going into town for some business mother and I'll see you soon". Andre kissed his aunt goodbye then Andre and Draco took a carriage into Diagon Alley, as there was no apprating in and out of the Malfoy Manor.

Draco and Andre stood in front of Silver scales Dragon Reserve. The reserve seemed nice enough and it was designed in a really interesting way. Draco left Andre to wander around the grounds and made his way to the main office. He entered the main office tent and like all wizarding tents, it looked smaller than it actually was. Inside the tent was a large space with a few desks that probably belonged to the dragon keepers. Draco made his way to the main office that read Charles A.W.

Draco stopped off at a desk near the main office "I needs to see Mr. Charles A.W he said.

The secretary nodded and went into the office to check to see if it was ok for Draco to enter. She held the door open and Draco went in. Upon entering he saw Mr. Charles A.W. seated at his desk. He had shoulder length reddish hair pulled at the base of his neck in a leather strip. He was tanned and he looked somewhat familiar.

"Good morning, I'm Draco Malfoy and I was"- Draco didn't finish his sentence, as Mr. Charles A.W was looking at him in a rather peculiar fashion.

"Draco Malfoy?" Charles A.W uttered in disbelief. "Yes" Draco answered. "Don't you recognize me?" Charles A.W asked. Draco shook his head dumbly. Suddenly Draco's eyes took in the red hair and light dusting of freckled visible beneath the tanned skin

"Weasley?" he asked. "Yes, Charlie Weasley or Charles Alexander Weasley if you want your head chopped off" Charles A.W or should I say Charlie Weasley answered.

Draco stood there rooted to the spot "well aren't you going to chase me out?" he asked Charlie.

Charlie looked at him in surprise "no" he answered "why would I do that?"

"Because our families have been enemies since as long as I can remember"-

"Yes" broke off Charlie "but that doesn't mean WE have to be enemies".

"I just want to discuss business that's what I'm here for" Draco replied.

"Well then lad let's get to it" Charlie answered and they carried on as if their families had not hated each other and had tried to hex each other the chance they got.

While Draco was discussing business prospects, Andre wandered around the grounds. He passed by a dragon enclosure that was shaped like a Chinese hut. It was absolutely massive about the size of 14 soccer fields and a warded wall that resembled the Great Wall of China surrounded it. Inside this enclosure, according to its sign, was the Chinese Fireball. Andre rather liked the Chinese Fireball, it looked spunky. It gave him an odd look and tossed its head, a small fireball escaped from its snout. The fireball disintegrated as soon as it made contact with the wards. Andre surveyed his surroundings; Draco was probably going to like it here if he bought the reserve. Andre passed by another enclosure that looked like the Taj Mahal in India. Inside this enclosure were a couple of Indian earth dragons, sacred to the wizards and witches of India. The Earth Dragons were herbivores and they weren't as dangerous as the Chinese fireball or the Hungarian horntails. An earth dragon walked up to Andre and sniffed him thoughtfully then licked him, covering him in saliva. Well on the bright side, at least he won't be subject to any illnesses for at least a couple of weeks. It was a well-known fact throughout the wizarding world that Dragon saliva contained magical healing properties, supposedly the more dangerous the dragon the more powerful the healing properties in the saliva.

There were no visitors to the enclosure apart from the dragon keepers, the reason for it being that it was a Monday morning and parents were usually at work and it was always the weekends and holidays that were the busiest. In the corner there was a stand selling stuffed dragons that breathed fire and gave out realistic roars. The stand vendor was sitting in a plastic foldable chair and had his legs propped up on the table. He was snoring loudly and apparently fast asleep. Andre looked around a little more. All in all he was fairly impressed, for it's lack of finances, this place seemed to be doing ok. Though looking at the dragon keepers one would think they would forgo all sense of dignity and walk around naked if they had to, just to keep this place afloat. From the looks of it, the dragon keepers seemed to be underpaid, through their frayed, patched and burnt looking robes. Especially this one girl who had dirt all over her face, was wearing incredibly patched and frayed robes, she seemed to be shoveling some sort of bloodied objects into large buckets and then was levitating them over to various enclosures. Andre wrinkled his nose at the sight of her dirt-smudged face and messy dirt smudged hair as well. It was almost impossible to make out her natural skin color under all that dirt. He shook his head; some people had no self-respect. Whatever happened to the whole notion of "look good and feel good?" He walked a little way down and found himself standing at the base of a hill. The sign at the base of the hill said SWEDISH SHORT SNOUTS 10 MINUTE WALK UP. Andre thought he would go and see the short snouts, he was quite sure Draco would be a while. He was thoroughly worked by the time he reached the short snouts enclosure. They were in a woodland sort of enclosure and Andre had to strain his eyes to see them. They camouflaged well against their surroundings. Andre thought this might seem amusing to the little children who loved the "where's Wally?" books and who would be quite eager to spot the hidden short snouts. He walked further up the hill past the dangerous Hungarian Horntail enclosure when a sign stopped him saying DANGER ABANDONED DRAGON ENCLOSURE FULL OF UNSTABLE MAGIC DO NOT PROCEED. Andre peered past the large sign and spotted a huge ruined castle and he stared at it for a while. He had always been one to appreciate the beauty of a castle; the ancient and majestic feeling that he got from castles were like matured wine and a beautiful woman.

He was admiring the castle for a long time when all of a sudden he saw movement coming from the window. Strange, wasn't this enclosure supposed to be abandoned? All of a sudden for a brief second, he saw a spiked tale creep out the side of the ruins. He gave a great shout of surprise, but there was no one around to hear him. He looked around but no one came, so he looked back at the castle. He saw the most peculiar sight; he could just make out the figure of a dragon. He walked up a little more, ignoring the sign. He saw a dragon wearing a vest, yes! a vest! It was black shiny vest. The dragon also appeared to be wearing a monocle and reading the daily prophet. Andre couldn't' move, he continued to stare dumbly at the dragon and was only wrenched away by a loud and seemingly angry voice. The dragon seemed to have heard the voice too as it looked up at him and looked startled. Yes! The Dragon looked startled!

"Didn't you read the sign?" A voice asked angrily.

He turned around wrenching his eyes away from the dragon and found himself face to face with the dirty dragon keeper he saw earlier. She was void of her bucket and she was glaring at him with utmost dislike.

"I said didn't you read the sign" she asked angrily.

He nodded and swallowed, it was going to be hard to talk himself out of this one, and maybe if he pulled the old Andre Montague charm he'd win her over. He flashed her a brilliant smile but unfortunately it wasn't that easy.

"Well get out of here, go on" she said.

He was about to leave but he turned back one more time to the ruined castle but found no vest clad, monocle wearing, prophet reading dragon. He just found the castle's ruins. The dragon keeper eyes him suspiciously and it may have been his imagination but she seemed to be glancing nervously between Andre and the ruined castle. Yeah it was probably his imagination.

"I saw a dragon in that castle ruins and it was wearing a vest and reading the paper," he told the dragon keeper.

She snorted in the most un- lady like manner "HA! A Dragon wearing the vest and reading the paper? In the castle ruins? Well that's ridiculous, as if dragons can read and wear vests. It used to be an old dragon enclosure but the ancient magic that was used to ward the enclosure gave way and proved to be too unstable". She hastily led him back down the path away from the castle ruins "sorry to disappoint you but no dragon has been in that enclosure for a long time especially not black vests wearing paper reading ones" she laughed.

"I didn't say black," Andre said quietly.

She looked taken aback "what?" she asked. "I didn't say it wore a black vest, I just said it wore a vest".

The dragon keeper looked stunned "We-well I thought that a-a bl-black vest would be an obvious color of a vest to-to wear. I mean if I was a dragon and if I wore a vest it would be black too".

Andre remained quiet for the rest of their walk down. Something strange was going on and he didn't think he imagined it; he was quite sure he saw the dragon in the castle ruins. The question was, what were they trying to hide?

When they got back down the dragon keeper led him to the main office and he waited there for Draco who arrived a couple of minutes later.

"So?" he asked his cousin "how did it go?"

Draco let out a cocky smirk "I bought half of it" he answered smugly.

Andre clapped him on the back "well done Draco, so how's the other owner?" he asked.

"It's Charlie Weasley" Draco answered monotonously. "Although he seemed to be nicer than all the other Weasleys that I have seen and he isn't willing to let go of the entire reserve because he is very passionate about these creatures and wants to be here to take care of them".

Draco rolled his eyes at Andre who laughed. They were heading out of the reserve and Andre turned back to have one last look at the reserve and he saw a red headed man whom he presumed was Charlie Weasley talking to the filthy dragon keeper who had found him at the ruins. She was gesturing wildly and he looked weary. Andre had a feeling they were talking about him. "What's up?" Draco asked Andre noticing that his cousin was staring back at the reserve.

"Tell you later" Andre muttered.

Ginny Weasley was not in a good mood. She was doing her routine duty of being a dragon keeper when she had found a guy snooping around the castle ruins. She had nearly wet herself. Charlie would murder her if anyone found puff. Then she had a slip up and almost gave their whole secret away. After making sure that she had sent the guy off, she walked back down to the main office thinking that at least she had seen the last of him. She caught Charlie just as he had come out of the office and then told him about her little slip up. He looked weary and that's when he dropped the bombshell. Apparently she was wrong, she would be seeing a lot more of that guy. He was working for Charlie's new partner. Life couldn't get any worse.

A/N I'm currently looking for a beta reader so if anyone is interested, please review and let me know or e-mail me at even a if you want to leave some general comments it would be great if you could review or e-mail me.

Next chapter: The introduction of puff…and awkward meeting between Harry and Ginny. The feisty introduction between Ginny and Harry and a whole lot more!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything**

Ginny woke to the sound of her mother yelling at her. It was not the most pleasant way of waking up but it was effective.

"GINEVRA! GINEVRA! WAKE UP! IT'S TIME TO GET UP!"

Ginny groaned into her pillow. She was absolutely exhausted. She had come back late after spending time with puff, she had to bring him the latest addition of the daily prophet. He liked to be kept up to date with the news around. Ginny groaned louder as she heard her mother's magically enhanced voice calling her.

"GINEVRA ARE YOU UP YET?"

Ginny burrowed her head deeper into her pillow. She decided that she was going to blame her current state of exhaustion on Charlie. It was always Charlie's fault. In fact it was his fault she was still single and living at home. It was his fault that she didn't have enough money to move out of her parent's house, it was his fault she didn't have a boyfriend, no one wanted to come home to a girl who smelled of dragon manure. I mean would you?

"ARGH! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU CHARLIE," she yelled to no one in particular.

She was the only one still living at home. Even Ron had moved out, he'd bought a flat with Harry and the two of them were sharing. Which left her alone with her mother and father and occasionally some of her brother's kids who her parents babysat.

"GINEVRA" came her mother's shrill voice "DON'T MAKE THREATS ABOUT YOUR BROTHER!"

Ginny groaned out aloud and dragged herself out of bed. She was exhausted but she still had to go to work. Today was the day that Malfoy would be officially made co partner to Charlie. There would be an official ceremony just amongst the dragon keepers and then on the weekend there would be a Ministry function. Thanks to Malfoy's vast network within the ministry, he had convinced some of the ministry departments to fund the reserve. Which was a good thing, seeing as the reserve was in desperate need of finances. She stood up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, she really needed the rest.

"GINEVRA MOLLY WEASLEY IT'S ABOUT RUDDY TIME YOU GOT UP!! DO YOU WANT ME TO COME UP THERE? BECAUSE I WILL!! I'M WARNING YOU!!"

Ginny smacked a hand to her forehead "I'M UP ALREADY! SHEESH!" she bellowed back.

"WELL IT'S ABOUT TIME! NOW GET READY BECAUSE BREAKFAST IS READY!" her mother's shrill voice echoed.

Well at least living at home had its perks. She didn't have to cook or clean, her laundry was always done for her but she couldn't help wishing that she had more freedom to do what she wanted. She went into her bathroom to have a shower. Sometimes she wondered why she needed to have a shower if she was going to turn out filthy by the end of the day anyway. There really wasn't a point in having a shower, but it did freshen her up so she had one anyway.

She was getting dressed when she heard her mothers loving yet mildly annoying voice call up to her.

"GINEVRA HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU TO GET DRESSED?? MUST I COME UP THERE AND DRESS YOU MYSELF?"

"I'M COMING MUM I'M COMING!" She bellowed and went downstairs for breakfast.

"Hello honey" her father greeted her from his usual position at the table. He had a daily prophet in his hand and was reading some of the articles.

"Oh look Harry's in the news again" her father said casually.

Ginny rolled her eyes, _so what else is new?_ She thought to herself _Harry's always in the news._ That was the truth. Harry was the boy who lived and the boy who still lives, so it wouldn't be a surprise that he would be in the news.

"Oh it seems that Harry bought a new broom, it's a thunderstrike 3000" her father remarked and Ginny resisted the urge to snort.

"Yes. Very interesting dad" Ginny replied flatly.

"Now Ginny where's your enthusiasm weren't you and Harry a couple at one time? I should think you would show at least some interest in him," her mother added from her position at the sink.

"Yes mum, the keyword is were. We were a couple but not anymore. He ran off to go play auror savior of the world remember and he broke up with me" Ginny replied.

"Oh yes dear but I'm sure he had his reasons" her mother put in.

Ginny forced herself to count to a hundred. It was always the case. Her parents were always siding Harry. They treated him like a son and they always seemed to take his side in things. It was the same with her brothers too. When Harry and Ginny had broken up her parents had never blamed Harry for the split. She was so sick and tired of having her family always take Harry's side. Although she and Harry were still friends, things had never really gone back to normal. She didn't mind though, she had a job that kept her busy and she had Puff. Speaking of Puff, he would want the daily prophet.

"Hey dad are you done with that?" she asked her father pointing to the daily prophet that lay abandoned on the table.

"Hmm? Oh yes I'm finished you can have it" her father replied.

She beamed at him. This would save her the trip of having to go to Diagon Alley to buy the prophet. She got up and kissed her father on the cheek and then went to kiss her mother.

"I have to go now, see you later dad, bye mum," she said bidding them goodbye and then grabbing the paper, she apprated just outside the reserve.

Ginny couldn't Apprate directly inside the reserve because there were anti appration wards set up to keep people from directly apprating into the reserve. They started putting up wards when they realize that people kept apprating directly inside the reserve to avoid paying the entrance fee. Especially now that Malfoy was going to be a co owner of the reserve as well, Charlie had given him free range over the modification of the reserve. As precaution Malfoy had put up splinching jinxes all over the reserve so that if anyone apprated directly into the reserve they would be splinched. Just yesterday a man had to be rushed to St. Mungos. It was not a pleasant sight to see his limbs separated from his body. Ginny shuddered at the thought.

She used the side entrance that led her into the locker rooms for the dragon keepers and saw her fellow dragon keeper Lynn putting her bag into the locker. Ginny had always admired Lynn. Lynn was the only other female dragon keeper apart from herself but Lynn had been a dragon keeper as soon as she'd left Hogwarts and when dragon keeping was still considered to be a man's job. Lynn had endured a lot of torment from the males when she had first become a dragon keeper. But that was six years ago and as time passed, dragon keeping became as much of a woman's job as it was a man's job. Lynn was a dragon keeper at the reserve before Ginny had arrived and until Ginny arrived, Lynn had to share a locker room with the men. Lynn was about six years older than Ginny but they still got on well.

Ginny secretly believed that Lynn liked Charlie but Lynn would never admit it. She was too much of a tomboy. Ginny surveyed Lynn from her position on the bench. Lynn had long dark hair that was constantly in a messy ponytail, blue eyes framed by thick dark lashes and full pink lips. She did have a nice figure but it was always hidden behind unflattering robes or boyish jeans and t-shirts. Ginny sighed; it would be lovely to get Lynn and Charlie together. Ginny stood up suddenly and Lynn jumped a little turning around to face Ginny.

"Oh hey Ginny, I didn't notice you, was listening to my wireless" she said plucking the two tiny magical objects from her ears.

"Hi Lynn no it's ok. I was off in my own world anyway" Ginny sighed.

Lynn slammed her locker door shut and sat next to Ginny looking concerned. "Are you ok Gin?"

"Yeah I'm fine I just feel like life sucks at the moment. And especially with Malfoy as co owner, you can bet life is going to suck even more" Ginny mused.

"Don't say that Gin, I know Malfoy may have been a bastard to you back in Hogwarts from what Charlie has told me" a fond look crossed over her face at Charlie's name and then she cleared her throat "but it's been years and this is business".

Ginny sighed "I guess you're right, besides we're older now so I'm guessing he'd be more civilized".

Lynn nodded and pulled her T-shirt over her head and grabbed her frayed dragon keepers' robes to pull them on. Ginny was about to do the same when the door to the locker room burst open and Malfoy's assistant, Andre Montague strode in. Lynn shrieked and covered herself and Ginny let out a string of curses. Since it was a female locker room, the men weren't permitted to enter and both women were looking furious.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Ginny asked angrily.

"Look we've got some new arrangements to be made and Malfoy's called a meeting in the mess tent and I've been told to come and get the two of you. You might want to get dressed" he said smirking at Lynn who scowled.

"We're coming now just get out!" Ginny screamed and Montague walked coolly out the door smirking as he went.

Ginny had no patience when it came to Montague or Malfoy. Her feelings toward Malfoy were after al understandable but she didn't' like Montague ever since he had almost found out about Puff when they had first come to the reserve. Ginny didn't know what she would have done if he had discovered Puff. Charlie would have killed her.

"We'd better go" Lynn remarked after she and Ginny had put on their navy dragon keepers' robes.

The two women walked into the mess tent where the twenty or so dragon keepers had already gathered. There was a make shift stage set up with a podium and Malfoy was standing at the podium with Charlie by his side. Charlie was grinning and looking around at his puzzled looking dragon keepers.

"Now if I could have your attention please" Malfoy drawled and reminding Ginny uncannily of Snape. "As a now official co owner of Silver scales Dragon Reserve I feel that it is my right and duty to implement some sort of change in your mundane little reserve".

There was an outbreak of whispering from the keepers and there were even some cries of outrage. It was quite understandable actually. Almost all the keepers at the reserve were dragon fanatics like Charlie. In fact the only one who was working there that didn't have a passion for dragons was Ginny. But over time they seemed to have grown on her. Beside Ginny, Lynn looked livid. Looking up at the stage Charlie was no longer grinning and Malfoy looked unfazed by the angry keepers.

"Now the first thing that will have to be changed is the female locker rooms. It's pointless to have a huge female locker room for only two women. So we will be turning the female locker room into a gift shop selling merchandise and there will be a small locker room erected within the male locker room for the two females". Ginny's jaw dropped and Lynn looked like she wanted to hit someone.

"Now the second thing that we would need to change is, that" Malfoy carried on, gesturing to the dragon keepers. The keepers looked puzzled. "Your navy robes are not practical for working with the dragons because one spark on that material and you're done for. So the new proposed attire will be dragon hide pants and a dragon hide jacket and a shirt of your choice, which has to be either white or black" he smirked at the looks of shock and disbelief on the keepers' faces.

"Oh don't get your knickers in a twist" he drawled "the dragon hide is taken from dragons that are already dead, you'll not be hurting them". He looked slightly bored but carried on anyway "And thirdly this mess tent that you're all standing in will be torn down and so will your locker rooms, we are renovating and new locker rooms and a new mess tent will be up in two weeks time".

"What'll we do till then?" Lynn yelled out.

Malfoy looked at her and raised an eyebrow "till new locker rooms and a new mess tent are up, there will be a makeshift one se up near the earth dragons enclosure and lastly we will be tearing down the ruined castle and we will be putting a pub in it's place".

Many of the dragon keepers looked nervous. All the dragon keepers knew about Puff and they knew if the tavern was to be put up then people would surely find out about Puff and that would be a disaster. Although the dragon keepers knew about Puff, they were all sworn to secrecy through a contract and none of them could ever reveal the existence of Puff to anyone who didn't know. The only ones that could reveal the existence of Puff were Ginny and Charlie. That was because Charlie found Puff and Ginny was the one who looked after him and spent the most time with him. Lynn looked at Ginny nervously and Ginny gulped. Suddenly Charlie who had been quiet throughout Malfoy's whole speech spoke up.

"No" he said. "That Castle has been there for years, it is what makes this place special and the ancient magic that has been in the castle is very dangerous and I will not have it tampered with. We can put the pub where the old gift shop is and let it face the lake where the Alaskan water dragons are".

"But Charlie" Malfoy protested, "That castle is an eyesore".

"No" Charlie said flatly "I've agreed to all your other changes Draco but this one is one I'd like to keep".

"Ok" he said grouchily and then he dismissed them all.

The keepers filed out of the mess tent slowly and Ginny spoke softly to Lynn "what happened I thought they were going to officially initiate Malfoy into the reserve".

"Apparently we missed it cause we were in the locker rooms" she replied "and that's why that git Montague had to come and get us," Lynn whispered back.

"At least we missed that" Ginny remarked "I'm going to go have a little word with that lovely brother of mine I mean come on dragon hide? A pub? This is a dragon reserve not some brothel. And plus it almost exposed Puff!"

Lynn nodded and followed Ginny to the office "I'm going to go feed the Chinese Fireballs I'll meet you during break" Lynn said and went past the office.

"CHALIE" Ginny said and banged open his office door.

Charlie looked up from where he was conversing with Malfoy and sighed. "Ginny not now please I'm busy with Mr. Malfoy".

"Oh I'm sure whatever Miss Weasley has to say is much more important than the fate of this company" Malfoy drawled.

"Damn right it is ferret," she snapped at Malfoy whose eyes narrowed "so why don't you just toddle along and leave me and Charlie alone".

"Ginny" Charlie warned and Malfoy held up his hand.

"No go ahead Charlie, talk to your little sister, we'll talk more later" he said and walked past Charlie towards the door.

As he passed Ginny he hissed, "you'd better watch yourself little weasel".

"Oh bite me Malfoy," she growled. Her eyes bore into the back of Draco's head as he walked out and when she spied Draco already out the door, she turned around to face a glaring Charlie.

"What do you think you're doing barging in here like that?" he exploded "I was in the middle of a very important meeting with Draco!"

Ginny laughed sardonically "oh so it's Draco now is it?"

"Well yes, we're partners now so of course we're on first name basis" Charlie explained.

"Yes but have you forgotten that your dear old Draco made Ron, Harry, Hermione and not to mention my life miserable during Hogwarts?"

"Yes but Gin try to understand that he's past that now and he's doing some great things for the reserve, not to mention that he got us the funding that we so desperately needed through his ministry contacts" he explained with forced calm.

"Yeah but so what? He's making us wear dragon hide outfits and he's putting up a pub in the reserve. Charlie this isn't a brothel!"

Charlie looked exasperated "look Gin, why don't you give these changes a chance before jumping the gun? They could work you know".

"Well alright I may have over reacted but Charlie we nearly had Puff exposed!" she cried. "Do you want the whole world knowing that we have a Class 1 endangered dragon on our hands? You know what Puff's saliva and blood is worth and you know what people will do when they get their hands on Puff!"

"I know Gin, I know" he sighed and ran his hands through his long hair.

"Puff's breed is technically not supposed to exist at all and people think that the silver dragons are extinct, imagine what would happen if they found out that there is one of the silver dragons left in the entire world and that we have him".

"Yes Gin, you've made your point" Charlie sighed.

"Plus Puff isn't an ordinary Silver dragon, he talks and he's civilized! He's supposed to be dangerous but he's not, he's a perfect sweetheart! They'd butcher him and then I won't be able to live!"

"YES GIN! I KNOW!" Charlie bellowed.

Ginny stopped talking and stared at him and then flopped tiredly into a chair in front of her brother's desk "I'm sorry Charlie I'm just so tired and after all these changes I still feel like I'm losing out, I mean look at me Charlie I'm eighteen years old and I'm still living at home and being woken up by mum everyday. I can't move out because on a measly dragon keeper's salary I can't afford anything" she sighed and buried her head in her hands.

"I know it's not fair is it. I mean everyone else here chose to become a dragon keeper because of their undying love for dragons but you did it to help your big brother out" he said and fondly ruffled her hair.

"Yeah I did it for you because family is important" she replied while flattening her ruffled hair "and besides you know puff won't let anyone else take care of him".

"Yeah that's true" Charlie mused "but I think I may be able to help you with your financial problems" Charlie said and Ginny looked confused.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well now that we've made these changes Bill's said that we have money to give the keepers a raise and I'm sure it's enough for you to put a down payment on a flat or at least rent with someone".

Ginny's face brightened "really?" she asked looking hopeful.

"Yeah" Charlie replied laughing at her expression.

There was a blur of red as Ginny squealed and threw herself at her brother hugging him with all her might. He laughed and picked her up twirling her around. It was as if she was a kid again. She had always had a good relationship with Charlie even though he was eight years older than her. He would never fail to bring her back gifts from Romania whenever he came back home to visit and he use to write to her regularly when she was in Hogwarts. Charlie was still spinning her around when someone cleared their throat from the fireplace.

"Bill!" Ginny exclaimed and rushed over to give her oldest brother's head a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey Bill" Charlie grinned.

"Bye Bill" Ginny said and skipped out of the tent humming as she went.

"Someone's in a good mood" Bill mused.

"Yeah" Charlie replied thoughtfully, staring after his sister "she deserves it though".

"That she does" Bill agreed.

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"It's about time you showed up" a deep English accent greeted Ginny.

"Yeah sorry about that Puff I've been really busy and there have been so many changes made to the reserve that I had to deal with" Ginny replied.

"Yes Lynn told me about them today when she came in to empty the bin and bring me a cup of tea. Apparently people are not too happy about the changes" the dragon remarked finishing what was left of his tea.

"Yeah that's true but at least we're all getting a pay rise" she said tossing Puff the daily prophet that she had taken from her father.

"Thank you for the prophet I've been waiting to do the crossword" Puff said and he took the paper from her and opened it up.

"Sorry about coming late it's just that I had to sort out a few things with Charlie" that new partner of his is a right twat" she said and sat down on a small arm chair.

"Hmm I see" Puff said putting his large monocle over his right eye "Oh look Ginny Harry's in the news again apparently he's bought a thunderstrike 3000".

"Yes Puff I know and don't lecture me on my lack of enthusiasm because I have already been berated by my mum".

"I wasn't going to" Puff remarked and flipped through the paper till he came to the crossword.

"Well I'm excited now that I'll be able to move out of mum and dad's house. Can you believe it Puff? I can move out!"

"Yes, yes very fascinating Ginny, but what's small and lives is a toadstool but is not a fairy?"

"Hmmm I think its pixie?" Ginny said thoughtfully.

"You might be right let me check, pixie that's five letters so one, two, three, four, five. Yes that's right! Well done Ginny!"

"Glad to be of service" Ginny replied smarmily.

"Hmmm" Puff replied absentmindedly and busied himself with the crossword. Ginny sighed and leant back into the armchair. It was no use talking to Puff when he was doing the crossword.

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Charlie Weasley rubbed his temples and closed his eyes. He was exhausted from the day's work. He sat in the mess tent at one of those plastic makeshift tables and chairs with a butterbeer in front of him.

"Running a dragon reserve isn't as easy as I thought it would be" he said out aloud and put his head in his hands.

"Hard day?" came a female voice from in front of Charlie.

"Yeah" Charlie said looking up to see Lynn standing in front of his table with a butterbeer in one hand and a plate with a cheeseburger and fries in another.

"Mind if I sit?" she asked and he shook his head gesturing to the chair opposite him.

She used a leg and pulled out a chair and sat down with her butterbeer and food. Noticing Charlie's solitary butterbeer she gestured to her burger.

"Can I offer you some?" she asked.

"No thanks I'm good," he said shaking his head and taking a swig of his butterbeer.

"Are you sure? It's good," she said taking a none too delicate bite of her burger.

"I'm sure" he replied

She laughed and broke her burger in half and handed one half to Charlie who took it reluctantly.

"Oh go on Charlie you look like you haven't eaten in a while" she jibed and took a bite of her burger.

He smiled at her and bit into his burger half "this is good," he said.

"Yeah" she replied, "So I heard we're all getting a pay rise?"

"Yup, it's really all thanks to Malfoy's connections and Bill's superb accounting skills".

"Ah I see" she said and brushed away the black bangs that had gotten loose from her ponytail.

Once Lynn finished her meal she bid goodbye to Charlie and went back to doing her work. Charlie stared after her a smile etched on his face. Even a normal conversation with Lynn left him feeling different. He shook his head; no he had a girl friend didn't he? So he shouldn't be thinking about other women. Speaking of girlfriends, he should tell Ginny of his newfound love and possibly introduce her to the rest of the family. He had been keeping it a secret for about two months now and if Ginny knew how long he'd been keeping Beth a secret, she'd freak. Maybe during the ministry dinner he'd bring Beth and then introduce her to the family. He was sure they'd love her, I mean who wouldn't right?

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"_So mama what do we do?" the slender young woman asked the hunched figure before her._

"_Quiet and let mama think" the hunched figure rasped._

"_I know!" exclaimed the young woman "at the ministry party I will get that Malfoy boy drunk and then he'll tell me everything or I'll slip some veritaserum into his drink and he'll be forced to tell me everything" she clapped her hands happily._

"_No" mama cut in "that won't work but what will work is if at the ministry party you get that Malfoy boy drunk and then he'll tell you everything or you can slip some veritaserum into his drink and he'll be forced to tell you everything" she said smugly._

_The young woman's jaw dropped and her eyes narrowed "that's exactly what I said" she grumbled almost inaudibly. _

"_What? What did you say?" mama snapped._

"_Nothing mama" the woman replied quickly "I was just thinking what a genius plan that is, you're brilliant mama"._

"_Yes" mama said looking smug "it is brilliant if I do say so myself"._

"_That was my bloody plan you old coot, can't even think of your own plans" she mumbled softly to herself._

"_What? What was that?" mama snapped._

_The young woman sighed "nothing mama nothing"._

"_It had better be nothing or you'll get a good hiding!" mama called back._

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Ginny walked into the mess tent later that afternoon on her tea break of fifteen minutes and spied Lynn in the corner by herself. She looked filthy, there were smudges of dirt all over her face and she was drinking a butterbeer. Much of her black hair had come loose from her ponytail. Ginny laughed and sat down next to her.

"You look like you've just been shagged" Ginny laughed.

"I wish" Lynn replied looking disgruntled.

"By Charlie?" Ginny asked innocently.

"Oh most definitely- hey! You tricked me. I wasn't supposed to say that!" she cried and smacked her hand to her forehead.

"Oh I knew it a long time ago Lynn, you've been smitten by him since you started working here. I remember during the holidays at Hogwarts when I used to come and visit and seeing your face every time he walked into a room or when he was in close proximity with you".

"Am I that obvious?" Lynn asked.

"Yeah. In fact so obvious that every other dragon keeper has noticed it and they're all wondering when you'd tell him" Ginny grinned and took a swig of Lynn's butterbeer.

Lynn looked horrified "I can't do that!" she exclaimed.

"Why not?" Ginny asked.

"Because what if he doesn't feel the same way? I'd look like a right fool then" she told Ginny gesturing wildly.

"Well I'm sure he would want to date you, he hasn't had a date in ages and besides you're a nice girl, I'm sure it'll be ok" Ginny replied.

Lynn shook her head "I can't do this Ginny, I mean I'd rather face ten angry dragons over your brother".

"Oh come on Lynn it's not that bad is it?"

"Did I mention Ginny that these ten angry dragons are females protecting their nest of eggs?" Lynn remarked.

"Oh that bad huh? Well something's got to be done about it" she said.

"Easy for you to say" Lynn Replied.

"Well easier than me finding a flat and someone to share it with" Ginny sighed taking another swig of Lynn's butterbeer".

"You're looking for a flat?" Lynn asked leaning forward in her seat.

"Yeah" Ginny replied "since we get that pay rise I'll be able to afford to rent a flat with someone".

"Why don't you move in with me?" Lynn asked "I've got a flat and it's nice too and convenient, right in the middle of Diagon Alley and let's face it, it's too big for me. Plus it's kind of hard to pay the full rent for the whole thing by myself".

"Are you sure?" Ginny asked looking earnest.

"Yes for sure" Lynn replied and snatched back her butterbeer with a grin.

"ALRIGHT!" Ginny exclaimed and hugged Lynn.

"When can you move in?" Lynn asked.

"How about tomorrow?" Ginny replied.

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Draco Malfoy was happily taking a much-deserved shower when his bathroom door burst open.

"What the Fu"- Draco remarked as he pulled back the shower curtain to reveal his cousin.

"Dray you need to come quick" he said looking worried.

"Why what's happened?" Draco asked getting out of the shower and taking his towel from Andre.

"It's your mother, she's not doing so well" Andre replied.

"I'm coming" Draco replied and began to get dressed.

Five minutes later he was sprinting down to his mother's room and he pushed open the double doors to her room, with Andre right behind him.

"Mother!" he exclaimed and rushed over to her bed.

"Draco darling" she said weakly.

"How are you mother?" he asked holding her hand in his.

"I'm fine darling" she replied and let out a body wrecking cough.

"How's she doing?" he asked the healer who took care of his mother.

She merely shook her head sadly and replied "not so good".

Draco closed the double doors softly behind him and went out into the hall. His mother was sleeping now and he decided to leave her to rest. His mother's health was bothering him. He needed to find something that could help her or cure her. But all the healers had said that it was no use, none of them had been able to find a cure for her illness. Many suspected that it was because in her younger days she had been around too much dark magic and many a time had been the subject of the dark magic, which was causing her illness. She couldn't work magic anymore and often her body became weak all of a sudden. If his mother died Draco wouldn't' know what to do with himself. He raked a hand through his fine blonde hair.

"Hey Dray don't sweat it ok? We'll find something for her" Andre said and patted Draco on the back.

Draco nodded. He had made up his mind. He would find a cure for his mother even if it killed him.

**A/N: So this is the end of chapter 2 and I would like some feedback if possible and maybe if you have any ideas that you want to suggest then it would be nice if you could tell me them in a form of a review. Thanks to all those that reviewed the last time and I hope you all review again soon! I'll try to reply to you guys if you have any questions and anyone interested in becoming a beta reader please let me know!.**


	3. Important

This is a general author's post that I will be posting in all my stories…I've recently been introduced to livejournal and I have been thinking about posting my stories up on livejournal because I would like to have everything that I've written in one place, and not scattered all over the place …and I'll also be doing stories that center around my original characters in some of my fics. For example I will do separate stories for Orion, Maya, Harlan and Terry from my Family man fan fiction piece.

I will also be posting up my original works up but for that I need a place. If anyone who is livejournal savy and is educated in its ways please let me know because I desperately need help with working it out. I've been deciding between livejournal and blogspot for a while now so please let me know if you would be interested in reading my stuff if I post them up on either livejournal or blogspot…and please let me know which one you'd prefer cause I can't seen to make the choice… The stories I would be posting would be:

**HARRY POTTER**

-Meeting the son-in-law

-Save the Dragons for goodness sake

**HANA YORI DANGO**

-Suki Yuki

-All I need

**SMALLVILLE**

-The family man

**BOYS BEFORE FLOWERS**

-Yi Jung's family

-Yi Jung's (in)sane family

And as for my original works, I will be posting one that I have been writing for a while now called As the cherry blossoms bloom.

**ORIGINAL WORKS**

**AS THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS BLOOM**

Akira Mimura is a half Japanese, half Eurasian girl. Her father was disowned by his wealthy plutocrat family when he chose to marry Akira's mother, Kendra Williamson, whom he'd met whilst studying in University in Melbourne Australia. Akira's parents in a futile attempt to reconcile with her paternal grandparents, take a trip to Japan. There in Japan, the then five year old Akira befriends a boys she meets in a playground and they vow to meet again, giving each other a little token to remember each other by. Unfortunately fate is such that they don't meet until eighteen years later. But life is complicated for the pair and neither realize that they've met before. Obstacles get in the way for the pair and it's still uncertain if they will fight the barriers keeping them apart or lose their true love forever.

**LOST IN SEOUL**

Sasha Mason has finally done it. She's made the move to Korea to be with her fiancé Matthew James who is a film producer. Throwing caution to the wind, she heads to Korea landing a job as an English teacher. Unfortunately due to unforeseen tragic circumstances Sasha soon finds herself alone in Korea with no home, no job and no knowledge of the Korean language. Just when she thinks that life is hopeless, the last person she expects, come to her aid. Sasha learns that sometimes life deals you with troubles so that when you overcome them you'll understand the true meaning of happiness. Follow Sasha along on a journey of life, love, friendship and self discovery as she attempts to survive in a world that she barely knows.

Well what do you think? I'll also be posting up new stories that I have ideas for. So review this post and let me know if you'd rather I continue on fanfiction and post up my originals on my blog or if you'd rather I post everything on my blog. And which you prefer too, livejournal or .

Thanks guys,

Sheen


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